The Fourth Parallel
by Chronic Guardian
Summary: What are friends for but to bounce wacky ideas off of? Sora and Riku discuss some odd coincidences in the downtime after Dream Drop (So expect spoilers up to that point). My first true drabble in all its oneshot glory.


**The Fourth Parallel**

_Chronic Guardian_

"It's funny," Sora said, sprawled along the horizontally bowed trunk of the Paupu tree with his hands cushioning his head against its smooth bark.

Leaning at the base, his friend Riku shifted a curious glance back. "What is?"

"There were three of them, right?"

Riku sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Sora, you're gonna need to fill me in a little more than that."

"Three Keyblade masters," Sora elaborated. "What were their names again? Terra, Ben, and.."

"_Ven_ and Aqua," Riku corrected him. "Remind me again why it's funny?"

"Because there's three of us too." He said it like he was surprised Riku hadn't seen it immediately. "Almost like a parallel imagining."

"Okay, time out. Since when do you think about stuff like 'parallel imaginings'?" Sora wasn't… dumb. But Riku couldn't say the boy was the brightest bulb in the box. Particularly when it came to theoretical physics.

"Remember when we were in the dreaming worlds and Joshua said the two Traverse Towns were like two imaginings of the same world? What if… what if _we're_ a parallel imagining of the Keyblade Masters."

"Sora… that doesn't really make any sense." _Especially not in the real world_.

"Awww… But think about it, Riku. From what Yen Sid told us, I'd say you're like Terra. And Aqua and Kairi are a little alike. Besides, my heart's fused with Ven's, right? You saw him in there. You can't deny that one."

Riku sighed. Sora was too sold on the idea to be talked out of it now. "You're right, that is kinda funny," Riku relented, hoping Sora would drop the subject once he got affirmed for it.

"And if you take it a step further, then Axel, Roxas, and that other girl would be the next imagining!" Sora pressed on. "Isn't that cool? You'd get to be Axel's Parallel!"

_So much for that approach_. Still, if Sora insisted on it, maybe there was a way Riku could bend it backwards to make him see the ridiculousness of it.

"Alright, suppose every threesome is a 'parallel imagining' of the original Keyblade Masters," Riku said, narrowing his light turquoise eyes at his friend. "Then it follows that the crew from Twilight Town is another one."

"Seifer and his gang?" Sora looked dubious.

"What?" Riku blinked. Who the heck was…? "Oh, no, not them. Hayner, Pence, and Olette."

"Oh! Right. Which would make you Hayner, Kairi Olette, and me…"

"Yup, you'd be Pence."

"…What's Pence like again?"

"He's the fat one that doesn't like exercise."

Sora looked down at his own midsection and probed it gingerly. "…But he's smart, right? And he sticks with his friends, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Riku bluffed. He hadn't actually spent much time around Pence and the others, but if he wanted to seem knowledgeable enough to be drawing comparisons he needed to act confident.

"Well… then I guess that's okay for me," Sora smiled and settled back down onto the trunk.

_Typical_. Riku couldn't help but to smile a little himself. _Sora can still see the brightest part of anything, no matter how hard we try to stop him._

"Besides… they don't count."

"Oh? And why's that, wiseguy?"

"They don't have Keyblades," Sora explained cheerfully. "So they're not one of the parallels."

"Hang on, they don't have Keyblades _yet_." Riku blinked. Had he really just said that?

"Mmm? Oh… I guess you're right. I mean, we had no idea we could wield Keyblades. Maybe they can too."

"After Lea got into the program, I'd say all bets are off."

"Who's Lea?"

Riku sighed. "Y'know… _Axel._"

"Oh! Right." Sora's eyes lit up. "Which means that maybe there's another candidate for the fourth parallel!"

"C'mon Sora, give it a rest." Riku was afraid to ask who he'd be compared to this time. Good luck could only hold for so long.

"But Riku! What if it's Mickey and the others?"

Before he could stop himself, Riku reflexively lowered his head and demanded in a low voice, "please tell me I'm Mickey."

* * *

**-Author's Note-**

Yes… I know "CG writing a drabble? For shame!" This doesn't fit my normal MO(Modus Operandi), but it was an exercise I felt needed to be done. However I feel like I failed to fully grasp Sora since he's so much more than just a hyperactive protagonist. Even so, maybe he still lets his goofier side show when it's just him and Riku on the island.

Thanks for reading my second KH fic! I'll probably have another one-shot about _something_ by the time New Years hits. If you suggest something good then maybe even sooner! But I digress. Thank you for your time, may it go well for you,

-CG


End file.
